Pregnancy as a Disability. Sexism in the Health CARE Industry
Being a Feminist with an interest in Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and with May being #DisabilityAwarenessMonth, I thought I would discuss the long-standing Misogynistic SEXISM in Health CARE and in society as a whole.
On this May 4th, in advance of Mother's Day, I thought I'd take a look at the myriad reasons WHY Women NEED Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment beginning with the start of Motherhood in Pregnancy.
All of Health Insurance is geared towards Risk Management. What if I get sick? What if I get hurt? Who is gonna pay my Medical Bills? What happens to my Pay Check if I can't go back to work?
In the Industry we say there are 3 strategies for Managing Risk:
1. Eliminate the Risk
2. Assume the Risk
3. Transfer the Risk
The 3 Major Risks that people buy protection from are:
1. Dying too soon
2. Living too long
3. Becoming Disabled from Sickness or Injury
More on Risk Management coming soon.
For purpose of today's discussion, when doing any kind of Employee Benefits Enrollment, whether covering Medical Expenses or Pay Check Protection for Maternity Leave of Absence, Pregnancy in any type of Insurance is classified as a Sickness.
What???
A Pregnant Woman is NOT Sick, she is Pregnant.
When Enrolling in Major Medical, if a woman is currently Pregnant at time of Enrollment, all Expenses related to the Pregnancy are Excluded as being a Pre-Existing Condition. All other Medical Conditions can be Covered.
When planning for Maternity Leave, Short-Term Disability is typically used to provide the young Mother with a Pay Check until she is ready to return to work.
The Affordable Care Act, affectionately known as ObamaCARE leveled they playing field in recognition that PreNatal Care IS an Essential Health Benefit & should be covered as such.
In general, ObamaCARE is the Coverage of Last Resort for people like myself who are 1099 Self Employed, or are Part Time Workers not Eligible for Employee Benefits at their Job.
As such, ObamaCARE had little or no effect on Major Medical through Employee Benefits with these two exceptions:
1. Mandatory Coverage for Pre-Existing Conditions
2. Defining certain Essential Health Benefits that are to be include in ALL Insurance
The March of Dimes that has a long history of providing for Healthy Pregnancies & Healthy Babies has a cool Resource Page for Expectant Mothers, including information for Mom's during the Covid-19 Crisis.
My youngest Grandchild, Owen, was born this year just prior to all of the Social Distancing, Staying Home & Sheltering In Place.
Check out the March of Dimes Page here:
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Uninsured Health Insurance Agent, 12/15/2017
Today is the final day of Open Enrollment for ObamaCare for 2018 Health Insurance & once again, I am an Uninsured Insurance Agent.
Hate is a pretty strong word that is not even in my vocabulary, but there are NO WORDS for how much I HATE DONALD TRUMP.
I had to cancel my Insurance plan that I signed up for earlier this week when I found out in a hurry the difference between Premium Subsidies & Premium Tax Credits: the difference is that I can't afford coverage.
Understanding that this was on the way, I spent yesterday getting one more round of preventative vaccines & blood work so I could order 1 more year of prescriptions, so I'm sitting here this morning feeling very much like a pin cushion.
Elissa & Solomon should be fine. I am thinking that the State of Texas will fund C.H.I.P. & Medicaid that will cover my Daughter & Grandson.
It is people like me that are too young for Medicare (Holy Shit - I'm too young for something) & are not offered Medicaid though I do quality financially - because the state of Texas decided not to expand coverage for people like me.
So very angry about this country's failure to elect Hillary Clinton & do the right thing.
